Oct 2 Instagram Update & InkTober Art Haul

Miss me? No? Because you have a life and don't rely on this six month old blog for the majority of your entertainment? Fair enough. However, if that were in fact the case, I may have disappointed you with a lack of posting. Well, good news! I've got some pictures and a video to occupy your mind and delight your eyes. Hurrah! So where have I been? Mostly, on Instagram. If you have an account on this social media giant, feel free to follow me or watch the hashtag #madebyemk, with which I tag 99% of my posts. If you haven't yet clicked the link (or don't plan to, because life is already hard enough) here's a small preview of what you are missing...

Have I tempted you to check it out? If not, here is another great reason: IT'S INKTOBER, and I'm participating! Inktober is a drawing challenge, created by Jake Parker, in which artists dedicate themselves to drawing one image everyday of October. The creator releases a prompt list, but not all artists follow it; the point is to draw each day, and it doesn't matter what, as long as it's in ink. Anyone can participate in Inktober; the only thing you need is a piece of paper and a pen. If you're a pen junkie like me, you may use this month as excuse to buy art supplies, and I have some suggestions. This Inktober, I'm using black Faber-Castell PITT pens and grey Faber-Castell brush tipped PITT pens in an Art-Plus Moleskine. The video below explains everything you need to know, including a quick review of the pens and notebook that I'm using for this month's awesome drawing challenge. (You can also see this video HERE.)

The PITT pens I'll be using are black and gray, and I purchased a set of each for this drawing challenge. The grey pack comes as a set of soft brush tips, including cold greys and warm grays, providing a huge range for shading and coloring. The first photo below is an example of the colors included. I strongly recommend some grays for shading, and the Faber-Castell PITT pens are all made with India ink, so they look pretty great with most drawing pens out there. The second photo below portrays a close up of each of the pen nibs from the black set. Most PITT pen users are comfortable with the smaller nibbed pens, but this set also included 3 larger tips that I had never used before. Both of these sets run about $25 USD, which isn't a huge savings if you were to break the 8 pack down, so I don't recommend purchasing the wallet sets if you only plan on using small nibs, (XS, S, F, and M) as it's worth it to purchase those pens individually.

If you are participating in Inktober, please leave a comment below with a link we can all check out to your blog or Instagram. I'm so excited to see what creativity transpires over the next month! I'll be updating with my drawings all October as I join in the fun!!